This morning, there was a fire at a home in my neighborhood. Fortunately, everyone was able to leave the house safely and the fire department arrived quickly. Of course, seeing this happen to my neighbors made me realize that it could just as easily have been my house that caught on fire. Those of us that work from home may not often think about protecting our computers, files, and other work items from disasters such as fires or floods.
Today, I decided to look into what kinds of things a work-at-home professional can do to protect their business from fire, flood, or other disasters such as the frozen, broken pipes that have plagued quite a few people around here lately with the extreme cold weather that we have been having. Some of the suggestions that I found, like having evacuation plans and adequate insurance on your home are things that you probably already do as part of owning your home and keeping your family safe.
There are other things that you can do specifically to protect your business and enable you to resume operations as soon as possible after a disaster. If you have a lot of “stuff” that is part of your business, whether it is craft tools and supplies, computer equipment, items that you sell, or anything else, be sure to keep an up-to-date inventory of it. You may also want to take pictures of the items and record model numbers, etc. so that you have precise information available should anything ever need to be replaced. Also, keep an up-to-date list of contact information for all of your vendors, clients, and your insurance agent. It is okay to keep the inventory and contact list on your computer, but print them out once a month and keep it in a fire-safe box. Also, speaking of the computer, make sure that you back it up regularly. Online backup is an easy and effective tool for keeping your data safe, but an external hard drive that you detach from your computer and place in a fire-safe box works well too.
These are just a few suggestions to get you started on the way towards ensuring that your home-based business will be able to rebound after a fire, flood, or other catastrophic event. These things can happen to anyone at any time, so there is no better time than the present to take action to protect your business.